FrontPage Tutorial 3 (Page 3 of 3)

Step 1: (alt text and alt image for image) You can add alternative text and image for images...these are loaded before the image is fully loaded to give users "something to look at" before they run out of patience waiting for that huge image of yours to load. The "alt text" option is used more often than the "alt image" option, If you want to see an example, just look on top of the frontpage of this site. The big banner on top has an alt text. To add alt text or image to an existing image, right click the image, and select image properties. Go down to Alternative Representations, and fill in the desired attribute. Low-Res adds alternative image, Text adds alternative text. Some things to take note:

The alternative image does NOT have to be the same size as the original image. FrontPage will automatically resize the alt image to match the "main" image's size, although the resolution will be distorted due to resizing.
The Low-Res option is really not used very often, and should be avoid in most cases, since you are loading two images at the same time, which may backfire and actually be more irritating for surfers.

Step 2: (image borders) You can easily add image borders, which will help add definition to the image. To do so, right click the image, select image properties, than appearance on top. Go down to border thickness, and select the desired thickness. (Some browsers do not support borders, in that case, you'll see nothing.)

Step 3: (adding sound) No, we're not going to use the feature add background sound that comes with FrontPage97. Two reasons:

We're going to insert sound using FrontPage's insert plugin feature. This will give you a lot more control over the sound. There is, however, one catch: It only works with Netscape browsers! But since most sites now use this feature to add sound, this is without a doubt a much better choice. To add sound this way, click insert, than other components, than plugin.
You see:
-Data source: For data source, enter the sound file's complete location. This will usually be the complete URL of the sound file. ie: http://www.geocities.com/your_address/sound.midi Of course, you should always test to see that the sound file works by using the browse button and pointing the address to the midi file that's saved under your harddrive first, ie: file:///C:/music/All4love.mid than after uploading the midi file, change the Data source back to the complete URL location.
-Message for browser without plugin support: Pretty obvious right? Just enter text that non-plugin supporting browsers would see when going to your page with the plugin in installed.
-Size: This section allows you to control the plugin player; the size,

You need the plugin.whether to hide it etc. The size will affect how large the player appears on your screen. The one on the left has a size being height=50, width =145. Select Hide plugin if you want true "background" sound, without allowing users to turn off the sound file. The Layout part is not that important, and will not be talked about here. Free feel to experiment with it though.
If you want the sound to automatically play upon entering your page, than you have to use the Extended feature down below. Click the Extended button. Than click add on the right. For name, enter autostart, for value, enter true. If you want to music to loop forever too, than for name, enter loop, for value, enter true. This will cause the music to loop. If you really want both browsers to hear your lovely midi (or whatever ), do this: Insert sound using both the FrontPage add background sound and the Netscape plugin feature. The two will not interfere with each other (in most browsers). When Explorer users arrive at your site, they'll here background sound, when Netscape users come, they're see a plugin that allows them to play the music.

You can also change the size of the actual player, namely, "shrinking" it, by using the size option, PLUS another new one. Here's an example:

You need the plugin.
Observe that the buttons have been shrinked, unlike simply the "size" feature mentioned way up, which only resizes the viewing portion of the player. To achieve the effect above, do the following:
-Click the Extended button when you have finished with adding a basic player. (The way to do that is shown above.)
-For name, enter controls, for value, enter smallconsole.
-Exit that option.
-Go back now to the size attribute again and resize it until no "grey" area shows. A size of 15 by 50 will work nicely. There you have it!